Hi Gang!
I'm in a quandary.
What follows is a very long post-- so long it got bounced back to me for
exceeding the 10k limit in size-- though it is actually only several
paragraphs long, so I don't understand how it went over 10k, nevertheless,
I'm cutting it in half in hopes it will go through as PART A AND PART B, and
in so doing, not offend the list nanny, but more importantly, someone might
read it and respond. IT'S NOT THAT LONG...
THE SUBJECT MATTER:
wondering what I should do about upgrading my wallstreet. I don't post my
entire laundry list because I am pedantic, self-indulgent, or driven to
Byzantine complications to fairly straight-forward solutions. Or maybe I
am..
However, I invite your indulgence, you may examine part or all of my post;
you may suggest a therapist, Prozac, or answer based on your similar
experience.
For those brave souls who can endure some or all of the following, there is
an offer-of-sale of my old laptop that a thoughtful soul might find very
very interesting, based on what I'm willing to sell. So, with that caveat in
mind, I invite the plucky soul to examine:
I have a new-to-me Wallstreet 266 mhz with a stock 4gb hard drive.
I paid a very reasonable $230 for it, accessorized with a 20x CD ROM drive
(But no floppy, already had an AC adaptor, no extra battery, though the
stock battery does hold a charge.)
The upgrade options I've seen on various sites such as "low-end-mac" rate
the wallstreet as "not-so-desirable" for the upgrade path to OS X, due to
its very old sys buss and other stuff, like no USB or firewire ports.
However, the choices are now less transparent, because, for one thing,
1. I've installed 512 mb of RAM. (It was CHEAP!-- a little over $100 at
"Other World COmputing")
2. I bought expansion bays for the unit, also very inexpensive, from ebay:
a. a zip 100 drive for only $37.00 Just like everybody, I've got tons of
zip disks.
b. a "superdisk" drive (the one that also will function as a standard
floppy drive, very functional for me in my university student setting--
plus, it came with one superdisk [120mb] and I work at the yearbook and
university newspaper office, and all the installed macs over there also have
superdisk add-on drives, coz we use alot of floppies still, for stories and
such)
3. I plan on upgrading the hard drive-- at first I was looking at the 5400
rpm 30-40 gb range drives, selling for around $130-150..., but now I'm even
thinking about those sexy new 7200 travelstar(?) hard drives, which run
around 40-60 gb, and should exhibit another 20-40% performance boost-- I
would use this unit for photoshop, if it can handle files at least close to
my desktop G4, slower is OK, but crashing and freezing is a definite no-no.
But the already installed 512mb of RAM should take care of that!
So, help me dear friends, and if you've already gone this route, tell me if
I should not. Money spent is not the primary concern, but if my money is not
WELL spent, then it simply should be spent somewhere else.
Here's what the Wallstreet has cost me so far:
Wallstreet: $235.00, Zip Drive, Superdisk floppy drive:(with disk), 512mb of
RAM,
Total so far: $414.00
Anticipated unavoidable costs:
new or used extra battery: $125.00 (? new or nearly new with wrty)
new fast hard drive: $175.00 (40 gb 7200 rpm)
So, my total so far: $414.00;
with fast hard drive & new batt.: $300.00
total w/out cpu upgrade: $714.00
OK, I realize I'm getting into rarified air, now, into the area where it
might make sense to look at the new G4 Ti models, or the ibooks. But, here's
one more caveat I'd like to throw into the mix:
The Sonnet G4/500 mhz cpu upgrade for this wallstreet: It sells for $384.00
If I buy the sonnet upgrade, I add the two totals I have, and get:
Total: $1098.00
I'd spend over $1000 for a computer that would be a G4/500;
have a 40 or 60 gb HD spinning at 7200.
I'd have the zip drive,
two batteries,
a superdisk drive,
plenty of RAM (512mb) to run OS 10.2.
I wouldn't have: USB ports, firewire ports.
What I would have installed on the computer, since I own authorized copies
of all, is basically everything software that fits onto a Mac: Office X,
Photoshop 7, many many plug ins, dreamweaver studio MX, etc,etc.
Keeping the Wallstreet,with the SCSI port would allow me to continue to use
the peripherals that I already own, like a Nikon LS 2000 film scanner,
digitizing tablet, etc.
I could add USB and firewire via cardbus for less than $100 more, and have
access to the Epson 1280 and Epson 890 printers I have.(BTW, both of those
have the "never-ending inkjet filler system bottles" chrome and pigmented
inks that cost me an arm and a leg-- but I use them for my inkjet
photography printing that produces excellent results; I especially like the
grayscale ink sets. I do mostly black and white, and until recently all of
it in an old style chemical darkroom. [which is still much less expensive
than the digital/ink/computer darkroom solution, btw] BUt-- I digress...
Herewith ends part A. I will post a letter with the same subject, except
labeled Part B, in hopes it squeaks by the list momma.
Sid Barras (please look for part B for the remainder of my meanderings.)
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